As one of methods for inspecting and observing a biological sample extracted from a human body, experimental animal, or the like, a method is known in which a thin section is prepared from an embedding block in which the biological sample is embedded by an embedding agent, dye processing is performed on the thin section, and thus, the biological sample is observed.
In the related art, an operation of preparing the thin section is performed manually by an experienced operator using a sharp and thin cutting blade. However, in recent years, an automatic slicing device capable of automatically performing the operation of preparing the thin section has begun to be provided. According to this automatic thin-cutting device, it is possible to continuously prepare the thin sections without imposing a burden on the operator.
However, when the embedding block is thinly cut and the thin section is prepared, in order to prepare a thin section having high quality, it is necessary to thinly cut the embedding block to a predetermined thickness (for example, 3 μm to 5 μm). Accordingly, particularly, an operator pays attention to sharpness of the cutting blade. When the thin cutting is performed in a state where the sharpness of the cutting blade deteriorates, it is not easy to thinly cut the embedding block to a desired thickness. In addition, in some cases, there is a concern that the thin section may be damaged. In this way, since some disadvantages occur, it is necessary that the operator periodically replaces the cutting blade.
Here, for example, in PTLs 1 and 2, a configuration is disclosed which includes a cutting blade transport mechanism which feeds a plurality of cutting blades accommodated in a replacement blade cartridge one by one and transports the cutting blades to a holder, and prepares the thin section by thinly cutting an embedding block while automatically replacing the cutting blade.
As shown in FIG. 16, a replacement blade cartridge 100 includes a case main body 102, a lever portion 103, and an opening portion 104. The case main body 102 accommodates a plurality of cutting blades 101 in a state where the cutting blades overlap with one another. The lever portion 103 extrudes an uppermost cutting blade 101a positioned in the uppermost layer among the plurality of cutting blades 101 accommodated in the case main body 102, along an extension direction of the uppermost cutting blade 101a. The opening portion 104 is formed on a side surface positioned in front of the uppermost cutting blade 101a extruded by the lever portion 103, in the case main body 102, and the uppermost cutting blade 101a passes through the opening portion 104.
Moreover, a biasing portion 105, which biases the cutting blades 101 toward the upper layer in the overlapping direction, is provided between the bottom surface of the case main body 102 and a lowermost cutting blade 101b positioned in the lowermost layer among the plurality of cutting blades 101. For example, the biasing portion 105 is a V-shaped plate spring, and the center portion of the biasing portion 105 is fixed to the bottom surface of the case main body 102. Both end portions of the biasing portion 105 support both end portions of the lowermost cutting blade 101b in the direction, in which the blade edge of the lowermost cutting blade 101b extends, from below.
In this case, the lever portion 103 is moved by a cutting blade transport mechanism (not shown), only the uppermost cutting blade 101a accommodated in the case main body 102 is extruded, and thus, the uppermost cutting blade 101a is transported outside the case main body 102 from the opening portion 104 of the case main body 102.